NRL head of football Graham Annesley explains changes to obstruction rule in 2025, referee department shake-up

NRL head of football Graham Annesley has revealed the reason behind the amendment to the game’s obstruction rule, as well as the key changes made to the refereeing department ahead of the 2025 season.

NRL head of football Graham Annesley has explained the changes made to the refereeing department which will see Jared Maxwell focus on bunker accuracy while Brock Schaefer has been promoted to focus on high performance in the game.

Schaefer spent a decade at the Rabbitohs before he stepped down from his role as chief operating officer last year and will now play a key role in head office where he’ll focus on high performance for referees, the Kangaroos and Jillaroos.

“We want to try and free up more coaching resources in the refereeing department,” Annesley explained.

“Jared Maxwell had a dual role of not only managing the department but also coaching, which kind of divided his attention on a pretty regular basis.

“By freeing up our coaching resources and bringing in some additional football expertise from someone who has spent an extensive period of time in a club (will help us).

Brock Schaefer (left) has been promoted to a key role to help referees. Picture: Brendan Radke

“He (Schaefer) won’t be a technical adviser because he’s not a referee – he’s a manager – and he’ll have a look at their structure, their processes and how they interact with clubs.

“That will take all that administrative burden away and put all the focus on coaching.

“Jared will move more into a bunker role which is where he came from originally before he took over the management role, and Brock will oversee the day to day management.”

It’s been a relatively controversy free start to the pre-season with Annesley explaining the need to make a slight adjustment to the obstruction interpretations after defenders were being rewarded for poor reads.

Jared Maxwell (right) will focus on bunker accuracy under the new system. Picture: NRL Photos/Gregg Porteous

The bunker had its first test on Sunday when the referee ruled no try for what he thought was an obstruction on David Fifita, but Kasey Badger saw it differently and awarded the try to Brisbane because “Jack Gosiewski runs through space, the Titans defender then initiates the contact on him as a defensive decision.”

The call divided opinions in the Fox League commentary box, but it could be a line in the sand moment for the upcoming season.

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“There will always be differences of opinions over obstruction,” Annesley said.

“It doesn’t matter what rules and indicators we have in place because it ultimately comes down to people looking at something and saying ‘I think it’s obstruction’ and others saying ‘I don’t think it is’.

“Some of the changes that we made in the off-season were in consultation with some of our leading coaches.

“It became apparent that over the last couple of seasons, the match officials have tended to default more in favour of the defensive team rather than good deceptive attacking play.

“The whole idea of lead runners is to try to fool the defence, not to take out defensive players. What we had seen develop is that the scales were tipped too much in favour of the defensive team, and that was leading to defensive players playing for obstruction.

“We made some philosophical decisions that successful deception in attacking plays should still be rewarded, and poor defensive reads – or defenders trying to milk penalties – should not be rewarded.

“It’s about trying to find that balance and to put some onus back on attack and defence.”

Originally published as NRL head of football Graham Annesley explains changes to obstruction rule in 2025, referee department shake-up